I always wanted to be a spontaneous composer.

That sound in tune to you?.. Sounds sharp to me. Sounds like I'm playing sharp all the time. My singing teacher told us you should do that. Maybe I got it from her. She said singers when they grow old have a tendency to go flat. So if you sing sharp as a young person, as you get older and go flat, you'll be in tune. In other words, it's never thought good to be flat. It means you can't get to the tone.

I was born swinging and clapped my hands in church as a little boy, but I've grown up and I like to do things other than just swing. But blues can do more than just swing.

I always wanted to be a spontaneous composer.

I never heard my music played the way I heard it in my head.

I always thought that no matter what kind of work people did, they should involve themselves totally with all the discrimination they ran into.

Most of the soloists at Birdland had to wait for Parker's next record in order to find out what to play next. What will they do now?